I Try
by INTeaJ
Summary: Most days are just like every other day. You hobble along more or less content with life. Some days however, you are called on to do something great. Just, maybe it's not always trying to rescue a three-hundred-year-old winter spirit after work. Rating may change. Some language.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author Note-My first fanfic in a long time. Special thanks to user: agent000 for the pre-reading and feedback. I hope you all enjoy!**_

 _A cool afternoon in late September found Jack taking the scenic route for a change. A few wayward leaves crunched pleasantly underneath his bare feet as he leisurely strolled down some nonexistent path. Birds chirped as sunlight filtered through the canopy of trees above, most of which were still trying to cling to the green of summer. He ambled along contentedly, sometimes humming as he let his eyes wander over every little thing he could find._

 _After wandering for an indiscernible amount of time he halted as he entered a small, narrow clearing. Standing at the edge of said clearing was what appeared to be an exact replica of his own crooked staff. Seemingly growing out of the ground, the wood also looked younger and it lacked the usual frost but the shape was unmistakable._

 _As Jack tentatively approached, he failed to notice that the woods had gone unnaturally silent. He reached out and tapped the other staff with his own quizzically and then the counterfeit staff burst to life. In less than a blink of an eye more rods shot up at all angles. The wood crackling and seemingly glowing gold as they did so. They wrenched his staff out of his grip. "HEY!" Jack exclaimed startled before lunging forward. He grasped desperately, but the new staffs were shooting up with fervor now._

 _His limbs were quickly becoming entangled and he felt the seeds of panic take root. Hastily he tried to back out of the clustered mess but was stopped by something hitting the back of his head. He felt his stomach drop. The wooden shoots had somehow managed to form a sort of hexagonal ring around his neck and his limbs were now equally immobile. He was trapped._

 _Before he could struggle any further, he felt sleep begin to wash over him. Suffocating, like a heavy blanket. He tried to fight it, but with a couple nods of his head he succumbed and his body went limp. The shoots golden glow faded and all was still._

* * *

If you were to ask me twenty or even ten years ago where I thought I would be right now, the answer wouldn't have been this. As a child I would've probably said that I'd be an astronomer working at NASA or a historian exploring ancient ruins in exotic locations. In my teens, I would have said that I would be a therapist who was changing the lives of my patients every single day. Today I was currently none of those things. Three years out of high school I had found myself an office job-the kind everyone hates-and I stayed there.

Sometimes I wonder how disappointed twelve-year-old me would be if she knew she wouldn't ever be an Egyptologist or a famous singer. Part of me hopes she would understand. After all, the job is stable and we're not homeless which has to mean _something_. However, the other part of me is angry on her behalf. Is this what being an adult means? Knowing you never reached your dreams but being content because hey, at least you're surviving!

I startled as someone called my name and I was brought back to reality. I should really wait until I'm not at work to have a quarter life crisis. 

* * *

Five hours and one frozen dinner later I was heading back out the door of my apartment. It was a pleasant complex, nice units and cheap rent. My roommate and I typically alternated between the park nearby and the gym for our workouts most evenings. Tonight was a park night.

Saying good-bye to our cat and locking the door,we made our way down the three flights of stairs. As we crossed the large parking lot we passed the same gaggle of young girls who were always there. Today they seemed to be playing princess.

"No, _I_ want to be Elsa!" a girl about six or seven whined. Another girl who looked a little older pursed her lips.

"I said I was gonna be Elsa _last night_ ," the older girl argued while crossing her arms and jutting out her chin. "She's blonde just like me, so I should be Elsa." My roommate and I shared a look before climbing into her car-a purple, hail damaged PT Cruiser and taking off. 

* * *

The park wasn't that far but as I stared out the window I could feel myself start to daze. The girls had reminded me of what I had been trying to forget. Images of an odd young man and shepherd's crooks springing up from the ground flashed through my mind. It was strange, I had that dream over a month ago and it was still as unsettling today as it was then. There was a realism, a sense of panic and urgency to that dream that still haunted me.

As we pulled up I noted that the park was unusually sparse for a Friday. With its large clearings, playground, creeks and wildlife it was normally a popular hangout for the residents nearby. Maybe there was some event going on that I didn't know about? I shrugged it off and got out of the car, pausing to stretch.

There are two trails our park, an easy one and a hard one. After months of hard work and building up our stamina we thought today was the day to finally tackle the hard one. This trail was great for slow afternoon hikes,beautiful even. I had walked it several months ago and fell in love with it. The trail changed frequently with some parts being wide and smooth while others were narrow and rocky. It had benches at the top of one of the hills and small cliffs but my favorites were the parts of the trail that looked like they were taken straight out of a storybook. Hills that had stairs made of roots and a hidden meadow covered with tall grass and wildflowers. I couldn't wait to start my work out. How foolish. 

* * *

Half an hour into the trail and I was dying. Why did I think I was fit again? Was I delusional? I continued to half jog, half drag myself along the trail. The birds chirps starting to sound a lot like laughter. Soon I felt a stitch form in my side and realized I couldn't go on much farther. I slowed and pulled out my phone to check the time. My roommate was a little ways in front of me; I figured she'd notice I had stopped soon enough. Suddenly I felt something hit me like a punch in the gut and the air whooshed out of my lungs. I had somehow managed run into the bench I had been headed towards. Simultaneously my water bottle flew out of my other hand and landed on the crest of the hill I was currently on. It teetered on the edge before ever so slowly rolling forward.

"No no no no no no no!" I rambled to myself as I raced forward.

The bottle continued its descent despite my protests. It really wasn't a very large hill but it was apparently enough to give my bottle the speed to rival NASCAR. I followed the best I could while trying to dodge tree roots and stray branches. I cursed as I felt another branch slap and scrap itself against my arm. Then I saw it finally come to a rest wedging itself in a bundle of tree roots. I came crashing out of the woods in a sweaty, wheezing mess. Black spots were dancing before my eyes and I closed them, taking a few deep breaths. I opened them again and then wished that I hadn't. What I had thought were tree roots were actually part of a larger structure and it wasn't a tree. It was a group of oddly shaped rods that I had seen a month before in my dream.

I had stopped running, but still felt like I couldn't breathe. I stood there frozen, just trying to comprehend what I was seeing. Slowly, I gathered up what little courage I had to step closer before starting to circle around it. It was exactly the same as my dream. Except, no boy. I reached for my water bottle carefully avoiding touching anything else; I wasn't about to take any chances. There was no way this could be a coincidence, but at the same time it _HAD_ to be. There was no way that I had found the same evil, magical bush..thing that I had seen in my dream.

"What if you _have_ though?" a little voice in my head piped up. "According to the Multiverse Theory _anything_ could possibly exist" it continued and I grudgingly admitted it had a point. However, I had also seen how these types of things usually played out in novels and wasn't sure that I wanted any part. I should just go home and pretend like this never happened. However, I found myself standing back up, water bottle in hand ready to inspect the structure again despite my previous thoughts. This whole thing was so strange; it really _was_ exactly the same as my dream. Except, no boy. Then,like flipping on a switch, there was.


	2. Chapter 2

If I thought I was having trouble breathing before, I definitely was now. What had just been a cluster of odd shaped rods before now held the body of a young man. The tangle of wood somehow holding him about a foot off the ground. His body was positioned in such a way that his top half pitched forward a little farther than the rest of him so that he was looming eerily over me. I didn't know what to do, he looked so tangible. Not at all like he had just appeared out of thin air. I was too afraid to touch him. Would he really be there, solid, like anyone else? Or would he disappear as suddenly as he showed up? I wasn't sure which outcome I was more afraid of.

I don't know how long I stood there just gaping. Seconds? Hours? Days? Most people would be having some sort of mental breakdown right now wouldn't they? 'Have I gone insane?' they would be asking themselves fearfully. Perhaps my brain hadn't fully processed what was happening yet. Perhaps I would have a psychotic break after all. I decided that I wasn't going to worry about that just yet. Instead, there was just one question echoing through my mind-what now?

I couldn't seem to come up with a good answer to that. Something in me was screaming for me to do _something_ , but what does one do in a situation like this? Normally I'd like to think that I'm a pretty good problem solver, I generally operated on cool logic. However, _this_ was outside my realm of logic and understanding. That was when I heard a voice in the distance. My stomach flip-flopped as I realized that I had pretty much disappeared during my little adventure and that I needed to get back up there before my roommate decided to call the cops.

'Maybe this will all make more sense tomorrow.' I found myself thinking. At least, I hoped it would.

* * *

It had been almost a week since what I was deeming 'The Water Bottle Incident' A.K.A 'The Day I Lost My Mind'. It had also been two days since my roommate left for Florida to visit family. I still had nothing. I had gone back the very next day trying to retrace my journey down the hill. I fumbled my way through the woods for what seemed like ages. At one point I even wondered if I had hallucinated the whole thing. Finally after many wrong turns, almost spraining my ankle, and a handful of bruises later I found it.

The 'clearing' if it could be called that was a long oval void of trees. The woods encircled it making it seem like it was a completely different world. Nothing was there. That is except for what I had been looking for. _He_ was still there plain as day, eyes shut and the sun lighting up his white hair like a halo.

'Oh god, what if he's actually dead?!' I thought in a burst of panic. Hesitantly I crept forward and stood on my tip toes straining to put an ear to his chest. All the while trying to avoid touching the same wood that had trapped him. Part of me was very surprised my natural skepticism was keeping quiet through all of this. Did magical beings even have heartbeats? Maybe he was like a vampire, neither alive _or_ dead. I was still straining when I heard it; he was breathing. I pulled back and watched his chest intently until I saw the shallow rise and dip.

"Oh thank god." I breathed. Well that solved _that_ problem. Now for the next problem at hand. Pulling out my phone, I pulled up the loudest alarm I could find and hit play. The siren blared through the small clearing, causing all the birds in the nearby trees to scatter. I cringed and lifted the phone up towards the head above me trying not to drop it. Nothing; not even a snore. I turned it off, my ears still ringing.

'Well, it was worth a shot.' I thought glumly.

I had continued to go back every day since. Meanwhile I was researching how to get rid of the wooden monstrosity every chance I got. Something was telling me I had to find a way to help. A couple days after the incident I had finally gotten the courage to examine one of the shoots. Thankfully they didn't seem to be triggered by touch anymore. However, my dad's large hedge shears broke on impact.

* * *

Speaking of research,do you have any idea how difficult it is to find reasonable information on things that shouldn't exist? I had read everything I could find: folklore, research papers, and scientific journals. As well as Wiki pages and blogs. Hell, I'd even roamed some chat rooms in hopes that someone, somewhere would know _something._ After all of that, I still had a whole lot of nothing. So I had tried to create my own solutions. I tried a plethora of different things this past week including a Wiccan purification ritual and actually trying to burn it. Completely fireproof in case you're wondering. After many sleepless nights, I was exhausted and thoroughly fed-up. Which leads me to where I was now; standing at the edge of the clearing with a shovel propped up against my shoulder. I had _had it_ and I was running out of ideas. In fact, this was my last resort. This thing seemed invincible to all manner of attack, but maybe I could dig it up instead.

I walked over and placed the edge of the shovel near the base. Saying a silent prayer to whoever would listen, I pushed down. I felt the earth give way and tensed, waiting for the backlash. Nothing. Shocked didn't even begin to cover what I was feeling. Who knew the solution would be so simple? Before whatever this thing was could change its mind, I began to dig.

With some determination I was able turn up a chunk of earth in just a few minutes. I was met with red,oozing roots that were speckled with white spots. With them came an unholy stench and for a second I thought I was going to puke. That couldn't be a good sign. At that moment I also noticed another strange thing. The edge of my shovel that was covered with the root goo had tiny waves in it. I wouldn't have thought much of it, but that was a brand new shovel. In fact I had just bought it that morning in perfect condition. Then it hit me-the root secretion was corroding it.

"Fucking hell." I whispered harshly. I knew those roots couldn't be any good. However, it looked like it would take some time to destroy the steel of the shovel head. I just had to work fast.

It took about half an hour, but I had managed to inflict some damage on a portion of the root system. There was not a lot of my shovel left, but there was just enough to get the job done. I could see the rods shake and move around every time I thrust my shovel into the ground. I lifted the shovel one more time feeling every muscle in my body protest, then dealt the finishing blow. A handful of rods wrenched up and toppled to the side. Suddenly my world went black and I fell.

* * *

Sputtering, I flailed for a second before hitting something soft and solid. I brought my hands up to my chest and _pushed_. I was not without effort but the mass slowly moved and I realized the boy's body had collapsed right on top of me when the rods had fallen. Well, he certainly _felt_ like a real person.

Sighing, I laid down for a minute just reveling in my victory. Dirty, sweaty and tired, I had never been more satisfied with myself. I still couldn't believe that worked, but I was not about to complain. Finally I turned, mulling over what my next course of action should be. What I wasn't expecting was to be met with a pair of bright, blue eyes staring back at me.


End file.
